Chosen Master
by JkPippa
Summary: There has to be a reason the Jungle Fury rangers were sent to RJ. Master Mao tests if his choice of RJ as the chosen ones' master is the right one.


Master Mao stopped in front of a closed door and looked at RJ. The young master was standing respectfully next to him, his face serious.

Mao had encountered a lot of resistance to this plan from almost all the other masters of the Pai Zhua but his personal opinion was that anyone capable of controlling the spirit of the wolf as well as RJ could, deserved this honor and could handle this responsibility. Besides, RJ had proven to be kind to his students, great at learning and teaching different techniques and wise beyond his age.

"Have you ever been in here, RJ?" Mao asked.

RJ's blue eyes opened wide and he shook his head. "It's the Forbidden Room, Master."

"I know it's the Forbidden Room," Mao said with a small smile. "But I also know you and Dominic and your curiousity."

RJ shook his head again. "We'd never go this far, master. We figured it was forbidden for a reason."

"It is." Mao opened the door. "Follow me, wolf master."

RJ swallowed hard and looked around before following Mao down the staircase. At the end of it there wasn't so much of a room but a cave. It had an intricate carving at the back and what looked like an altar with a wooden box on it. The place was eerily illuminated by red candles that were burning all over the place.

The wolf master took a moment to take in his surroundings and approached the carving, realizing it depicted the beast war. He looked around but found no wolf master in it.

"How come there isn't a-"

"Wolf master in the carving?" Mao finished.

"Sorry, that was a stupid question."

"It's a very fair question. There was no wolf master during the beast war, the wolf spirit wasn't mastered and its technique created, until many centuries after DaiShi was captured." RJ was listening in awed silence. "And there hasn't exactly been an abundance of wolf masters, RJ. What you have achieved is indeed an extraordinary thing." The younger man looked at the floor but he couldn't help smiling. "There's nothing wrong with feeling proud of your achievements. It doesn't make you any less humble or worthy."

RJ looked at the master's face, still smiling, obviously pleased with himself. "I never thought I'd be able to do it, to control the wolf."

"You figured it out," Mao said, remembering the day a student RJ had let out his wolf spirit by accident and instead of focusing on forcefully bringing it back, had started pleading the spirit to stop and not hurt anyone. He had pleaded the wolf to go back to him and the spirit had obeyed. RJ had looked at it and thanked it, before the spirit had vanished.

"I don't like to be ordered around but I'll do almost anything if you ask nicely," RJ commented as if he was answering Master Mao's thoughts. "I figured the wolf would be the same."

"That is what we call being in harmony with your animal spirit," Mao said. "You are a great warrior and have proven to be a great master, RJ. I am proud to have you as part of the Pai Zhua."

RJ was not inmune to flattery but even in his aloof mentality he knew when somebody was buttering him up. "Master, I don't mean to offend you, or disregard your nice comments, but what are we doing here? I can't be one of the chosen protectors, I'm not a student anymore ," he pointed at the carving. "My spirit is not even in the carving."

"DaiShi will rise again soon, RJ" Mao started. "There are the three chosen protectors, yes, the best of our advanced students, but they will need a master. A chosen master, if you will. A master to guide them through the fight against DaiShi."

"That would be you, of course."

"I am old and I have to look after the academy. The chosen protectors cannot finish their training here, they have to be taken away and trained intensely and constantly."

"Taken away from the academy? Where to?" RJ was genuinely confused.

"The city of Ocean Bluff rises now where DaiShi was captured and it will return there once its free. That's where the chosen protector must wait for it."

RJ thought he was slowly catching up and he wasn't entirely convinced he liked where this was going.

Mao pointed at the box on the altar. "That box is where DaiShi is kept. Tell me what is special about it."

RJ walked around the altar and looked at the box. It was wooden, carved… "It has no lock," he told Mao, his fingertips grazing the point where the lock should be.

"Very good," Mao said, walking to stand next to the wolf master. "Why do you think it has no lock?"

RJ looked at the box and meditated his answer. Why didn't the box where the evil was locked actually have a lock? Why wouldn't anyone think of doing something as basic as putting a lock in the box? How were they containing a raging, thousands of years old demon, inside that tiny wooden box. He looked at Mao. "The box is just a box," he said firmly.

"You think the box is empty?" Mao asked. "A decoy?"

"No," RJ took a moment to think. "But, somehow, it's not the box that contains DaiShi. The box is just a symbol."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Yes."

"Then open it."

RJ looked at the box and then at master Mao, his face suddenly pale. "What?!"

"If you truly believe the box is just a box, RJ, open it."

RJ's gaze returned to the box and he put his hands on the lid. If he was wrong, he would unleash DaiShi into the world. But if he was right, and he was almost sure he was, nothing would happen.

His heart was beating fast and he swallowed hard, but his hands didn't shake and he didn't hesitate after he made up his mind. He grabbed the edge of the lid and opened the box in one fluid motion, taking in a deep breath.

He was right, nothing happened. The box was empty.

"The courage of the wolf," master Mao whispered and RJ just looked at the empty box. "And the certainty of a true Pai Zhua master." Mao moved forward and closed the box again. "I see I have made the right choice."

"The right choice?" RJ asked, looking at him.

"I have chosen you to guide the chosen protectors in their fight against DaiShi. I am sure there is no master better qualified for it."

"ME?! You want me to train the chosen protectors?"

"Yes."

"But I'm… I'm… I'm not you, I'm not stern or wise…"

Mao shut him up raising a hand. "You were the only one who opened the box. You do not fear DaiShi. You are the best, the only, choice for this, RJ. I have complete faith in you and your skills."

The wolf master smiled at him, feeling elated at being given such an honor.

"I don't know what to say, master."

"You don't have to say anything," Mao told him. "Just take your responsibility seriously and defeat DaiShi when the time comes." RJ had a lump in his throat so he just nodded. "Now, come, we have arrangements to make before you leave to Ocean Bluff. If the prophecies are right, we don't


End file.
